Chapter 106: Opening Up A Fierce Attack

  It is precisely because of the importance attached to this battle that Gao Lin did not attend the press conference after the China-Uzbekistan match, and even refused all requests for interviews from reporters, and even avoided fans as much as possible, putting all his thoughts into pre-match preparations, striving to bring his state to the highest peak since the start of the World Youth Championship.

  But to be honest, Gao Jun was originally weak in communication and interaction. After crossing over, due to Xu's special care for him, Gao Jun rarely received media harassment, and even interactions with fans such as signing autographs were significantly reduced. The speed at which he recovered and improved his skills after crossing over is actually not unrelated to this simple way of life.

  Of course, Gao Jun also knows that players can't just focus on the game, and getting along with fans and the media is a necessary skill. Coach Xu has said that he will stop shielding him from reporters and fans after he turns 18, but Gao Jun has decided to concentrate on winning the U-20 World Cup first. "However, after the U-20 World Cup, I should also build my own team. In modern football, it's impossible for one person to reach that height alone..."

  Beijing time on June 25th at 21:30, the host Netherlands youth team and China youth team's 2005 World Youth Championship quarter-final match kicked off in Kerkrade. But what the home crowd did not expect was that the Chinese team, who were always considered to be a weak football team, launched a sudden attack right after the kick-off...

  "Probably in this game, only when the midfield kick-off, I will be relatively free, this opportunity can not be wasted! ", Gao Jun received the ball and accelerated directly towards the Dutch team's hinterland, but the Dutch team's counter-attack speed was extremely fast. Gao Jun used his unique dribbling way to get rid of one, but in the blink of an eye, there were already two more people approaching, and the defect that his dribbling way was not thorough enough also made the guy who was temporarily got rid of quickly catch up.

  "Three against one?" The corner of the field, Klausten saw this scene not only did not worry, but instead showed a happy smile and said, "Gao is good at more than just shooting, if three people stare at one person, other places will definitely reveal large empty spaces......"

  Klauten hadn't finished speaking, when Gao Jun sent the ball out from under his feet just before the three men completely sealed off the space. Because there was no one pressing him at the moment of passing, and the quality of the Dutch stadium's grass was extremely good, the accuracy and strength of this pass were just right. The left forward Yu Hai inserted in front to receive the ball and continued to accelerate forward, but soon a Dutch defender rushed over to try to block him and slow down China's attack.

  Yu Hai passed the ball to Rong Hao on the wing, then ran into the penalty area himself. Rong Hao took two steps and then passed the ball back to Yu Hai... Huang Jianxiang's commentary became increasingly excited, "Yu Hai... great! Great! The ball is in! Let's applaud this wonderful goal! Left winger Yu Hai, who had shown strong teamwork throughout the game, unexpectedly staged a brilliant individual performance at the beginning of this match. With consecutive changes of direction, he dribbled past three Dutch players, including the goalkeeper, and finally scored an empty-net goal, helping China take the lead from the start!"

  Yu Hai excitedly rushed towards Gao Jun, who ran over to celebrate, and then all the players on the field of China U23 team rushed over, everyone hugged together and shouted slogans that had been prepared long ago, "We are strong! Yes, we are strong!"

  Many foreign coaches who came to China to coach have had the same confusion: why do many Chinese players perform well in training and even warm-up matches, but become " rough" as soon as they enter a real match? After years of observation and analysis, Gao Jun found two main reasons: Firstly, most Chinese players, especially technical players, are afraid of being pressed, so it is difficult for them to play their best in intense competition. Secondly, Chinese players lack confidence, the more formal the game, the stronger the opponent, and the worse their own historical record, the less they dare to take action during the game, only making conservative choices, naturally appearing mediocre, while the huge psychological pressure makes it even harder for most Chinese players to perform normally, leading to technical deformation and low-level mistakes, especially when the opponent strengthens their defense.

  The problem of being pressed is theoretically unsolvable, because even during the Galactic era of Barcelona, when faced with equal or higher-level pressing, they would still be unable to withstand it. As long as the level of Chinese football improves and the intensity of the league increases, this aspect can be improved to some extent, but it will take a very long time, and it's not something that a young player like Gao Lin can influence. Therefore, what Gao Lin is more concerned about is still boosting the confidence of Chinese players, especially this batch of good seedlings from before the dark ages...

  When he was the head coach of the national team, Gao Jun once asked Manchester United's Ferguson, "How to cultivate the confidence of players in a team, especially young players?"

  "Victory. In the world of football, there is no other way to boost morale except through victory, no matter how many games you lose, a timely victory can lift the spirits of the players." This was Ferguson's advice back then, but later on, Gao Jun found it wasn't easy to put into practice...

  At first, Gao Lin tried to let the national football team play more warm-up matches to boost their confidence. Because in warm-up matches, even if it's a strong team that is stronger than themselves, they generally won't fully commit, so the national football team has a chance to defeat a stronger team with all their might and thus boost their confidence. However, later on in formal competitions like the Asian Cup, the false confidence cultivated from low-intensity warm-up matches was easily crushed, making Gao Lin realize that players' confidence in formal competitions can only be honed through formal competitions themselves.

  But this forms a dead knot, winning can enhance confidence, but before continuous winning boosts confidence, how can a team lacking in confidence often defeat opponents stronger than themselves? So the question returns to its starting point, players ultimately still need to have strength first, and then they will have confidence, forming a virtuous cycle. If you want to reverse it, it's not easy at all, at least for Gao Jun as a coach at that time, it was not easy to do. To know that under the premise that both coaches are qualified (and also suitable for the team), even the best head coach can only improve the team's combat effectiveness by 1-2%, but this difficult problem was solved after Gao Jun crossed over and became a player again...